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Monday, April 1, 2019

Shoulder Bag / Briefcase for Suit Jacket or Blazer

For quite some time now, I've been wearing a blazer (sometimes called a suit jacket) in most of my Toastmasters meetings. This is regardless whether the meeting is in my own home club at BF Community TMC or in other clubs or in Toastmasters events that I visit.

The first time I wore a blazer was when I gave a lecture on Body Language and Gestures at the 2018 Speakers Summit. But the wearing of a blazer became the norm when I did my round of club visits as an Area Director.

Carrying a Blazer or Suit Jacket

Living in a tropical country, how do you walk around going to places wearing a suit jacket?

You can't. So, in the first few times that I visited clubs, I would always just hold the suit jacket with one hand while walking.

I won't even wear it while driving. I'd just hang it with a clothes hanger inside the car. I'd take it out from the hanger when I get out of the car.

If it's really hot outside, I'd even drape the suit jacket to cover my head and shoulders until I get into a shaded area!

I was carrying my plastic briefcase with one hand and holding the jacket over my head. So I've no longer a free hand for an umbrella or a water bottle or anything else.

Carry Bag for a Blazer or Suit Jacket

Then it dawned upon me. Why not carry the blazer in a shoulder bag and just take it out when I'm ready to wear it? That way, with a shoulder sling, both hands are still free.

Well, not a lot, but it was still as good as new. I searched around for techniques to fold and store a blazer in a luggage bag and found one on youtube.

How to Fold and Pack a Suit Jacket Wrinkle-Free

I've summarized the seemingly complicated steps on the video and created an easy to remember acronym: OC-PAJET. Well, at least it's easy to remember - for me.

O-pen

Let the jacket face you with your palms vertical and inside the arm holes with an open gesture (below). The jacket hangs loosely by the shoulder pads on your palms.

C-lose

Join the palms together in a close gesture (below). The palms are still inside the arm holes, vertical (like a clap) and supporting the shoulder pads.

P-ull out

With the right hand, hold the fabric of both arm holes. Take out your left hand and hold the collar of the jacket. Pull out the fabric you're holding with the right hand outwards (shown below). So you will be pulling out of the arm hole. Notice that part of the jacket is now inside-out.

A-lign

Still holding the collar with the left hand, join the lapels together with the right hand. Align the lapel notches and edges together with the right hand. You can see the shiny jacket lining on the outside.

J-ab

Release the collar with your left hand while the right hand holds the aligned lapels. Close your left hand into a fist. Jab the previously pulled out fabric inwards so that it goes through the other arm hole.

E-ven out

Even out the collar, then the lapels, and then the entire jacket so it appears aligned, straight and as flat as possible.

T-uck

With the jacket still straight, carefully tuck the jacket as shown below. Typically, there would be just two folds. But this would depend on the size of the jacket and how small you want your end result (folded jacket).

Storing the Folded Suit Jacket in Your Bag

After tucking and folding the suit jacket into a small bundle that you know will fit inside the compartment of your shoulder bag or briefcase, lay the bag on a flat surface like a table.

Open the compartment of the shoulder bag. With the right hand holding open the bag, bring the folded jacket into the bag's opening.

Carefully insert the folded jacket in the compartment making sure that no part of the jacket gets snagged by the zipper teeth and that the folded jacket lays flat inside the compartment.

Ensure there's ample clearance between the jacket and the bag's zipper. Slowly close the zipper, making sure no part of the jacket's lining gets caught by the zipper slider.

And the shoulder bag with the folded jacket inside is ready to go.

When not carrying the shoulder bag, lay the bag on a flat surface so the suit jacket doesn't collapse while inside the compartment over time.

Since the suit jacket or blazer mostly takes up the space in the main compartment of the shoulder bag, I had to customize the Toastmasters shoulder bag by modifying the front and rear outside pockets and make them usable for other items.